Order of the Mountebank

A cavalier who belongs to this order employs persuasion, trickery, and his own influence to achieve his goal. His life exemplifies the motto “by any means necessary’, and often resorts to the most dastardly and underhanded tactics to bring his plan to fruition. A cavalier of this order takes every opportunity to take advantage of the situation before him, relying upon his own abilities to obtain a desired result. This order complements the Caitiff Knight multiclass archetype.

Edicts: The mountebank cavalier must always seek to gain advantage over his opponents, whether across the table or on the battlefield, by any means necessary. He must always keep his own interests and those of his allies above all others. The cavalier must take every opportunity to increase his own reputation, wealth, and notoriety.

Challenge: Whenever an order of the mountebank cavalier issues a challenge, he receives a +1 morale bonus on all melee damage rolls made against the target of his challenge as long as he is the only creature threatening the target. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the cavalier possesses. Furthermore, should the cavalier confirm a critical hit against the target of his challenge, as an immediate actions, he can make an Intimidate check to demoralize the target.

Skills: An order of the mountebank adds Disguise (Cha), and Knowledge (nobility) (Int) to his list of class skills. In addition, an order of the mountebank cavalier adds his Intelligence modifier to skill checks made to oppose Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive checks made against him.

Order Abilities: A cavalier that belongs to the order of the mountebank gains the following abilities as he increases in level.

Devious Strike (Ex): At 2nd level, the cavalier gains the ability to deal extra damage whenever his opponent is distracted. If the caitiff knight is engaged in melee, as an immediate action, he can make a feint against a single opponent (see Feint in Combat Maneuver’s section of the Core Rulebook), adding his CMB to the check. If the feint is successful, he can make a single attack that deals 1d6 points of precision damage as if the target was flat-footed, and an additional +1d6 precision damage every four levels thereafter, to a maximum of +5d6 at 18th level. If the feint fails, he can make a full attack action instead. Foes with uncanny dodge are immune to this ability. The caitiff knight can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma modifier.

Grand Ruse (Ex): At 8th level, the cavalier begins to master the art of the grand ruse and learns to create deceptions designed to bestow harm upon her foes. He gains the rumormonger advanced talent, even if he could not normally choose an advanced talent.

Mounted Escape (Ex): At 15th level, a cavalier can use the withdraw action as a move action when mounted, although if he does so, he can only move at his mount’s speed (not double his mount’s speed).